About 100 people gathered in Riverhead on Wednesday to sign a petition against a proposed luxury golf course development on the East End of Long Island.
“The Hills at Southampton” would include more than 100 homes, a clubhouse and an 18-hole golf course. Environmentalists and Suffolk County residents, including actor Alec Baldwin, say the pine barrens in East Quogue is not the place to build it.
“This development would further degrade water quality and would destroy critical habitats in this environmentally sensitive area.”
Environmental attorney Carolyn Zenk wants the independent New York State’s Central Pine Barrens Commission to review and reject the plans as soon as possible.
“If you want clean water, if you want fishing, if you want to live in the Hamptons that I grew up in, you have to kill this project.”
The developers, Discovery Land Company, have said that the benefits to the community would outweigh any potential environmental risks. They could not be reached for comment.